L.A. Teacher Walkout Shut Down by Courts
A planned one-day walkout by L.A. teachers to protest thousands of planned layoffs by a cash-strapped L.A. school district has been squashed by a restraining order from an L.A. Superior Court judge. But the conflicts between teachers and the L.A. USD remain.
From the Daily News's account:
District officials filed the restraining order request Tuesday morning as a last-minute effort to halt the walkout that they said was in violation of the teachers union contract. They argued it would severely hurt students and interfere with testing, including some advanced placement exams and state standardized tests....With the approval of the restraining order, district officials canceled plans to make Friday a minimum day, and reinstated all classes, although canceled field trips and athletic events will remain canceled. All district teachers will be expected to show up for a full day of work or they could be held in contempt of court, said Roberta Fesler, general counsel for LAUSD.
Some teachers informed the Daily News that they intend to go through with the planned walkout anyway. At the root of the conflict between the United Teachers Los Angeles union and the LA USD is that:
UTLA and a coalition of all district unions have been pushing the district to use all of its federal stimulus dollars in the 2009-10 year to stave off layoffs, but district officials have said they will not front load the money until the unions agree to concessions like furlough days and wage freezes.
The UTLA's official reactionto the announcement. From that announcement:
"It is unfortunate that the courts ruled against our members' democratic right to protest class"size increases and layoffs and to stand up for students," says UTLA President A.J. Duffy. "UTLA is also dismayed that LAUSD officials chose to fight our one"day strike instead of using the stimulus money to save jobs, stop the staffing chaos at schools, and keep class sizes at current levels."
Past City of Angles blogging on LA USD's money woes and layoff plans here and here.
The image associated with this post was taken by Flickr user =Manny=. It was used under user Creative Commons license.
